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Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

Ok, lets hear it! Your most hilarious bee removals and/or customers!!

Last year I posted an ad in Craiglist for free swarm removal, had a "client" call me up and said there was a swarm in the tree in his backyard, I thought "ok, cool!"...........until he said he wanted $60 for the bees because he knows how much they cost from the other C-List bee adds. I told him, " unless you get some sucker to pay you $60 for a swarm, you may be paying someone $400 to remove it from the walls of your house, good bye and goodluck!"

Had another guy call me up about a cut-out, he lives about 2 hours from me. I told him that I would have to atleast charge for the cut out and would get to it when I wasnt busy. He stated he wanted it gone NOW but the price I quoted was outrageous (it was, and on purpose!) and I said I couldnt do the project then. He paused for a bit and then said " well I guess I will just poison them then", and I replied "well, you gotta do what you gotta do, but I cant help you there either!"

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

The one I recall was a call about bees in a house. I asked are you sure they are honey bees, Yes of course they are Honey Bees. So I travel the half an hour and look at the insects flying in and out of the eves of the house, Hornets. Then I tell the owners,,no they can't be hornets, their honey bees. Now I have been a Beek for 40 plus years, I think I know what a honey bee is and what a hornet is. I finally said good bye and call an exterminator.

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

FlowerPlanter...That is almost like the dozen or more calls I get each year for the """swarm of bees""" in the garbage cans at Service Stations and Fast Foods around the Interstate interchange at Cave City. In July and August there is nothing blooming here, and the bees go to the garbage cans to get to Cola, and other sweet drinks.

When I ask, how big the swarm is, they often say, ""At least 50 bees""

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

My wife took the call from a lady that was hysterical and crying. She witnessed the swarm collect in her chimney. She had seen the movie Swarm as a child and was absolutely freaked out. My wife explained swarm behavior, and everything else. I talked to her a couple hours later and she was calm. She said the bees were coming out of the chimney, but that I could reach it easily by going from one roof to another and the chimney was low.

Partially true. There were 2 roofs, but the ladder she had was a step ladder, with a bent leg, and aluminum, which I had to slide under a power line. Then drag after me to get to the 2nd roof, which was a metal roof.

They had no money, and were renting the house. I decided to just do it pro bono because she was so nice, and so scared.

Got stung twice just walking to the hive, stung once after I was boxing everything up, left part of my extension for my bee vac at the house, and they were the meanest bees I had ever picked up - but they re-queened nicely.

Best story was the guy that had 5 gallons of honey in his ceiling. The bees had supered it up there, but the colony and brood was in the wall. He paid me normal for the cutout, and paid the normal price for a trapout on the outside of the house. Nicest couple in the world to work with, even though the trapout was a good 20' up, it went well first time.

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

I got a call that there was a swarm of bees on the side of a house. I figured that I should be completely prepared and brought all my gear, tools etc. Glad I did as it was an enormous cutout spanning the 2nd floor down to my belly on the 1 st floor and in 2 cavities in the wall. Six foot of comb in the floor joists between the 1st & 2nd floor loaded with about 50 lbs of honey. The funny part was the old woman who had the house was a total hoarder and pleaded poverty. I called a carpenter to come and help to do the cutting. He would be the one sending the bill and patching up. I just asked for some gas money. The amount of junk on the floors and piled up in the house rivaled the size of the honey bee colony. I could barely get doors open to get into other rooms, the stairs to the 2nd floor were a hazard with 40 years of junk mail piled up. Just crazy.

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

That wasn't Deena Maitlan was it. Lol, been there before to do siding repair. Hope I never have to do that again. Did you get the queen too John? How about that other caller you had called me about? Sounds like a good score with this removal. Lots of wax, bees and some honey. Take care my Friend!

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

Hey Charlie,

That call was in Chilton, WI and no it wasn't the Sheboygan slum lord's property...haha. That removal I mentioned above was a good one. I caught them right before they swarmed and had 8 capped queen cells to make nucs. Some nucs made it some did not and were combined with others. It was a good experience.

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

Looks like honey bees on a block wall painted barn red. Might be a serious trapout. I would investigate.

I'm just skeptical at this point because the last 2 or 3 people who have contacted me from the ad haven't written back after I expressed interest in my initial response.

I don't know, perhaps it is a legit person who really needs this done. But why can't they think like we do? How come they don't know the info we want? I mean, it would be nice to get at least TWO feet around the hole to see what's going on. How high up is it? I could go on and on !!!
.

Re: Swarm, trap out, cut out follies and incredibly wild customers!!

Did a cut out with my cousin on Sunday. Everything went well, except a cluster of bees we could not reach. Explained to the property owner that those bees would soon move to the brood combs that we had placed in the nuc.

The property owner, who was extremely nice to work with, was fine with leaving the bees the next day. Sure enough, the bees moved to the nuc. I thought great.

Midnight on Monday night I returned to collect the bees. The nuc was on some scaffolding about 20' or 30' feet up. As I neared the top, I heard movement above me, and quickly realized I was NOT alone on the scaffolding. Guessing it was a raccoon, I proceeded on.

The raccoon and I had a standoff for a few minutes on the scaffolding, but neither of us wanted to fight. Eventually he scurried up to a window seal and watched me pack up stuff and leave. My cousin posted the pic here: